STATE ATM News Blog

Greece People Using App to find ATM

A group of Greek developers have launched an app to help people find out which nearby ATM has cash in it.
The new app tells people where the nearest ATM is, and, most importantly right now, whether there is any money in it. It looks like the app updates this in real time too, telling people whether they can get &euro;20 or &euro;50 bills from a cash machine.

According to a Greek Huffington Post article, three Greek developers, Dimitris Chatzieleftheriou, Harry Spentzas and Christos Kritikos, came up with the idea shortly after capital controls were put in place in the country at the end of June.

Dimitris Chatzieleftheriou told Business Insider that the app gives people real time information about how much money is in cashpoint, based on feedback from other users who have tried the same machine. The app doesn’t have any actual data from banks.

“The most important thing that the app needs right now is users and their feedback,” he said.

The controls were put into place to prevent people draining the banks dry for fear of losing their savings if Greece were to exit the euro following its bailout referendum. Banks shut down, and the amount people could withdraw from ATMs was limited to just &euro;60 a day.

This led to long lines at cashpoints as people tried to access their money, with many running dry.

“Technically it was not difficult,” Chatzieleftheriou told the Huffington Post. “It took us 1-2 days to prepare. The most demanding part was to find all the ATMs in Greece and register them.”